Strong storm fells power pole

Published: Tuesday, July 1, 2014 at 12:40 PM.

At around 5 p.m. on Monday, a small but powerful storm swept in from the north and subjected Apalachicola, Eastpoint and St. George
Island
to torrential rain and strong winds.

Visibility was almost zero on the Patton and Gorrie bridges as the storm dropped buckets of water for about ten minutes.

A transformer on Avenue F took a direct hit by lightning and exploded in a shower of sparks.

On Water Street next to the Honey Hole, a power pole was ripped from the ground on the west side of the street, and jerked around to wind up pointing north in the street’s center. Much of the town experienced a complete or partial power failure.

Police blockaded the scene of destruction to protect curious onlookers. Duke Energy crews worked frantically to repair the damage and at about 10 p.m. power was restored.

Several business owners said, because of the prolonged outage, they were fearful that perishables had been ruined.

Tim Barry, a National Weather Service forecaster in
Tallahassee
said he was monitoring radar at the time of the storm and saw no cyclonic activity. “Thunderstorms can generate very strong winds and that is probably what happened,” he said.

At around 5 p.m. on Monday, a small but powerful storm swept in from the north and subjected Apalachicola, Eastpoint and St. George Island to torrential rain and strong winds.

Visibility was almost zero on the Patton and Gorrie bridges as the storm dropped buckets of water for about ten minutes.

A transformer on Avenue F took a direct hit by lightning and exploded in a shower of sparks.

On Water Street next to the Honey Hole, a power pole was ripped from the ground on the west side of the street, and jerked around to wind up pointing north in the street’s center. Much of the town experienced a complete or partial power failure.

Police blockaded the scene of destruction to protect curious onlookers. Duke Energy crews worked frantically to repair the damage and at about 10 p.m. power was restored.

Several business owners said, because of the prolonged outage, they were fearful that perishables had been ruined.

Tim Barry, a National Weather Service forecaster in Tallahassee said he was monitoring radar at the time of the storm and saw no cyclonic activity. “Thunderstorms can generate very strong winds and that is probably what happened,” he said.